Asked by Anonymous
Why dividing by zero is undefined?
Answers
Answered by
Reiny
Try this on your calculator
5/.01 = ..
5/.00001 =
5/.0000001 =
notice I am making my divisor smaller and smaller, almost zero and what is happening to your answer?
The closer my divisor gets to zero, the larger the answer.
So when I could actually divide by zero, then the answer should be infinitely large
which of course is not a number, thus we call it "undefined"
5/.01 = ..
5/.00001 =
5/.0000001 =
notice I am making my divisor smaller and smaller, almost zero and what is happening to your answer?
The closer my divisor gets to zero, the larger the answer.
So when I could actually divide by zero, then the answer should be infinitely large
which of course is not a number, thus we call it "undefined"
Answered by
Steve
Or, consider this. Suppose 4/0 = x for some value of x.
To clear the fraction, we get 4 = 0*x
But 0 times any number is zero. So, there is no possible value of x for which 0*x = 4. (Or any other nonzero value)
To clear the fraction, we get 4 = 0*x
But 0 times any number is zero. So, there is no possible value of x for which 0*x = 4. (Or any other nonzero value)
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